Chapter 359: What Does Money, This Worldly Possession, Even Count For

The sun was beginning to set, the three of them were still talking, and her uncle was mulling over the pros and cons.

His concerns were right in front of Fang Hong, so he couldn't very well voice them.

He couldn't exactly say, "I'm afraid you'll run off, and for my niece's sake I won't lend you the money"—that would be too hurtful.

Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian didn't interrupt for the moment, waiting for her uncle's answer.

"Didi didi."

Liu Tianxian's phone suddenly rang. She picked it up, glanced at it, and answered, brushing back the long hair by her ear: "Hello, Mom."

"Xixi, when are you coming back for dinner?" It was Liu Xiaoli's voice.

"We'll be back in a bit. Oh, my uncle's here, please make a bit more food," Liu Tianxian said.

"Ah! When did he arrive? Why didn't you tell me?" Liu Xiaoli's voice sounded surprised.

"He only came today," Liu Tianxian said.

"Goodness, let me talk to her for a sec." Hearing that it was his older sister's voice, her uncle gestured for Liu Tianxian to hand the phone over.

"Uncle wants to talk to you!" Liu Tianxian said, and handed the phone over.

Her uncle picked up the phone: "Hello, sis."

"You come and don't even tell me, so I could go pick you up." Though Liu Xiaoli's words carried a reproach, what came through was happiness, and delight.

"Just got here, thought I'd give you a surprise!" her uncle laughed.

"Now that you're here, stay a few more days."

Liu Xiaoli said again: "Hey, you must have met that boy, right?"

"I did." Her uncle glanced at Fang Hong.

"Then have a chat with him, he's quite a nice boy," Liu Xiaoli said.

"Alright!" Her uncle had a read on the situation in his heart too.

It seemed his sister also thought highly of this man, and seemed to trust him a great deal.

"Come over for dinner in a bit," Liu Xiaoli reminded him.

The two chatted for a while, then her uncle hung up and handed the phone back to Liu Tianxian.

"Xixi, your assets definitely aren't enough, after all this is a huge amount." Her uncle wanted to set his niece aside, and what he said was also the truth.

Liu Tianxian's assets wouldn't be that much, at most a few hundred million, and that was under the current circumstances of soaring housing prices.

Because Liu Tianxian bought her houses early—she'd bought several units back in the '00s.

This was also why the bank wanted the houses and cars as collateral: they really held their value, they had held their value over the past ten years, and even after ten years.

There was no talk of a drop, and a drop was not allowed!

Once they drop, all those loans secured against houses—those in the know understand.

"Then what do we do?" Liu Tianxian asked.

Her uncle thought for a moment and said: "We need a guarantor. Without one, it simply won't go through. Even if I let it through for you, I still have to follow the basic rules."

"If it's a bit less, 5 billion." Fang Hong didn't want to borrow too much either—borrow too much and the yearly interest alone is no small sum, so better to play it safe.

"5 billion? Is that enough for you?" her uncle asked.

Just now it was 7 billion, now it's 5 billion—the gap was a bit big.

"It's basically enough. If not, I'll negotiate with the acquisition party to see if we can do a bit less, or pay in installments." Fang Hong could only explain it this way, patching things over for Liu Tianxian's sky-high ask.

Her uncle asked: "Which company are you acquiring?"

"Shengda Literature," Fang Hong said.

"Oh, if it's a bit less, that's better."

Her uncle didn't know the situation at Shengda Literature either—he didn't pay much attention normally. He added: "But you still need a guarantor. If you have one, I can get the whole loan through for you. Do you have a guarantor?"

This was much better than CITIC back then—CITIC could only do 1.8 billion, but this time as long as Fang Hong produced a suitable guarantor, they'd give him 5 billion.

Having connections really made a big difference!

Fang Hong just shook his head: "No."

"You— no assets, and no guarantor either? Not a single family member who can step up?" Her uncle couldn't help but say it, he didn't know what to say anymore.

At least a few trusted friends or family members, right? None of those—how did he even get by?

"5 billion, you tell me, if it's not someone you absolutely trust, who would dare guarantee me? At home it's just my mom, and my mom doesn't have that kind of ability either." Fang Hong spoke earnestly.

Her uncle fell silent—of course he understood this reasoning.

Being a guarantor means taking on responsibility: if the debtor can't pay back, or runs off, the guarantor has to pay.

So the people who can guarantee you are either your closest kin, or someone you absolutely trust—otherwise who would dare guarantee?

You borrow 5 billion and run off, then the guarantor has to pay that money. That's just how it is.

These are the hard lessons paid for in blood by many people.

But a guarantor also needs to have a certain qualification—someone who obviously looks poor and has no money doesn't have the qualifications to guarantee. Fang Hong's mom definitely wouldn't do. A rural woman, where would she get that kind of ability!

"Don't worry, I'll think of something for you. Get your documents together for me first, and after I get back I'll ask around among friends. I can't guarantee how much can be loaned, but 3 billion—I can still try my best to secure that for you. As for the rest of the money, we'll think of other ways." Her uncle soothed him, and was sincerely intent on helping.

After all, his sister and niece both approved of this man highly; he might well become family in the future.

"Then thank you. If it puts you in too difficult a spot, forget it." Fang Hong nodded—if it didn't work, he'd take the 3 billion loan first; 3 billion could tide things over for a while.

Worst case, wait until next year's acquisition, sell the Tesla stock and pay Chen Tianqiao the rest.

The reason he didn't want to wait until next year was that he was afraid of competing with Tencent—who knew if Tencent threw money around, Chen Tianqiao might be tempted; business matters were hard to say.

If someone puts an extra billion on the table, who can guarantee they won't be tempted? Human nature is hard to say.

In his past life, Tencent had acquired Shengda Literature in '14.

"It's no trouble." Her uncle could only do this much.

Liu Tianxian had listened for a while, and roughly understood why Fang Hong couldn't borrow that much money, and where the problem lay—the issue was that Fang Hong's background was too weak.

If this man had even slightly better background, these billions wouldn't be an issue.

Because anyone who can secure large loans from banks inevitably has a few respectable, capable family members—meaning they come from some means.

Such families can help the younger generation solve financial problems, assist in launching their careers, and provide resources.

Just like his godfather, back then, his family helped him, and he even borrowed money from his uncle—otherwise he wouldn't be where he is today.

Even if he's stumbled before, he's still far superior to ordinary people.

This is why it's so hard for ordinary people like Fang Hong to start businesses—it's not about being smart or not, but the sheer difficulty of securing funds.

Don't even mention talent and resources? Just being able to know someone more elite than you counts as ability.

Fang Hong has always cultivated talent himself—simple enough: why would someone else's talent give themselves to you?

And why would talent follow you?

"Uncle, would you let me guarantee for him?" Liu Tianxian said.

"What?!"

The uncle seemed not to have heard clearly, but his expression turned startled.

Fang Hong stared at her in shock as well.

"I said—I'll guarantee for him. I'm a star; I have some value, some assets. If Fang Hong can't pay, I'll earn money to pay for him, sell my assets to pay for him." Liu Tianxian's gaze was resolute, her face calm.

"Now You See Me's huge success also did well overseas; her net worth is rising sharply—she's fully capable of guaranteeing this."

Never mind anything else—Liu Tianxian, if she tried, could easily earn hundreds of millions a year.

That Liu Tao could pay off hundreds of millions for her husband—how could Liu Tianxian possibly be worse in commercial value, brand value, or anything else?

"Do you know what you're saying?" The uncle's expression darkened.

"I know. I'm serious." Liu Tianxian's tone was firm.

"Come here."

The uncle stood up and beckoned to her.

Liu Tianxian rose, gave Fang Hong a look, and patted his shoulder to reassure him.

Then she walked aside to speak privately with her uncle.

Fang Hong didn't know what to say—he sighed inwardly. Liu Tianxian truly had no limits for him; she was willing to bet her entire fortune on his rise.

How could he repay this? Only by giving himself to her!

"If this person can't repay the money, and any financial problem arises, you'll be responsible for repaying five billion. Do you understand?"

The uncle spoke softly, pointing: "How much do you earn a year? Even if I help you slash the interest to the minimum, you'll still owe at least 150 million annually—just interest, not principal. Do you want to spend your whole life working to pay this off?"

"I don't understand those things. I only know I must help him. If I don't help him, no one else can." Liu Tianxian's voice was unwavering.

She understood all this perfectly—but right now, she didn't want to understand. The more she understood, the more afraid she'd become, the more she'd hesitate.

"Chang'e Technology is losing money—losing at least a hundred million a month. Do you know what that means? It means even if you poured in the Jade Rabbit, it still wouldn't be enough to cover the losses. There's another company in the United States, right? That still wouldn't be enough." The uncle pleaded earnestly, hoping to make his niece see reason and back down.

He'd seen Fang Hong's financial statements. Honestly, his growth was too fast—no grounding, no capital accumulation. Such a pace couldn't possibly soar without problems.

But if problems did arise, the entire system would collapse. Fang Hong would absolutely become a defaulter, because even combining the Jade Rabbit and all his other assets couldn't fill that hole.

He even suspected Fang Hong was a gambler—too dangerous!

And they're not even married yet—what if they never get married?

He wasn't doubting the boy's character or whether he'd repay—he was afraid he simply couldn't repay. This had nothing to do with morality or character.

What if he just plain couldn't pay?

He was only thinking of his niece—protecting her from this debt risk.

"Uncle, I'm going to marry him. If I can't stand firmly beside him through this, how will we face decades of storms together?"

Liu Tianxian added: "You may not know—we got together after going through so much. We made it because we gave each other enough trust, enough security, enough tolerance.

Since I can tolerate him as a person, what are money and material possessions?"

The two of them had been through many things—clashed over beliefs, argued, even considered breaking up.

But what carried them through was their unparalleled trust.

He trusted her, and she trusted him!

Without that level of trust, they would have split long ago.

(End of Chapter)